A logarithmic improvement in the Bombieri-Vinogradov theorem (Q2199509)

The Bombieri-Vinogradov theorem (which yields an estimate for the error terms in the prime number theorem related to arithmetic progressions) plays an important role in analytic number theory, with many and various applications. The best known estimate so far was given by a classical result of Dress, Iwaniec and Tenenbaum [\textit{F. Dress} et al., J. Reine Angew. Math. 340, 53--58 (1983; Zbl 0497.10003)], dating back to 1983. In the present paper, the author improves on this result in the logarithmic term, replacing \((\log x)^{5/2}\) by \((\log x)^2\) in the bound. For this, several tools and methods are applied and nicely and cleverly combined, among others a weighted form of Vaughan's identity and an estimate of \textit{M. B. Barban} and \textit{P. P. Vekhov} [Tr. Mosk. Mat. O.-va 18, 83--90 (1968; Zbl 0167.04003)] related to Selberg's sieve. Both effective and noneffective versions of the result are given.